Introduction to Marketing

Assignment 1 Company analysis and making use of market information

CASE: Valio

Learning objectives

1. The student can grasp the operating environment of a

company and the basic characteristics of its business

2. The student learns how to find information relevant for

segmenting and justify their analysis based on market

information

3. The student is able to make recommendations about

enhancing a company’s business based on the information

available

Background

• Read carefully the instructions for the assignment and

familiarize yourself with the background material

• http://www.valio.fi/portal/page/portal/valiocom

• Take a look at what is written about Valio in the media (for

example the english version of Helsingin Sanomat)

Assignment: Part 1 – Company analysis

Answer all questions:

1. In which geographical areas does Valio operate? What are

the most important market-areas for Valio?

2. What are Valio’s product groups that are aimed at

consumers?

3. Who are the main rivals for Valio?

4. This assignment is focused on the consumer business of

Valio. What other business does Valio practice?

5. Who are the owners of Valio? How do you believe this affects

the price of raw material for Valio?

Assignment: Part 2 – Analysis of a BU

• Let’s focus on one of the business units of Valio, the Cooking Products.

1. Cooking products include fermented cremes, sour cremes, creme

fraiches, cooking cream, cooking yoghurt, cottage cheese dessert

sauces, sauces for meals and soups. What are the main characteristics

of this business unit?

2. How should the marketing of the business unit be organized/optimized?

How can marketing add value? Could the group be more than the sum

of its parts?

3. In regard to marketing, are the basic products and the value adding

products different from each other? How about the spiced and the non-

spiced products? Is it possible to create unified segmentation, or should

the segmenting be product-related? Consider positioning when

elaborating your solution

Assignment: Part 3 –

Analysis of the product offering

• Let’s focus on looking at one single product offering,

the creme fraiche

1. How should Valio market the category? Should the products be

marketed individually or as a group? Is the product offering

consistent?

2. What kind of core value is communicated to the customers?

How successful this communication is?

3. What kind of role does the Valio brand play in this product

offering?

4. How do you see the segmenting and the positioning of the

creme fraiche offering in the future?

Assignment: Part 4 – Launch campaign

• Assignment: Create an innovative and out-of-box launch campaign for Valio’s creme

fraiche. The aim is to use new methods and target niche segments (without forgetting

others) being confined to a small budget of max 20 000 EUR. Avant garde thinking,

and even wildest ideas are the key for a successful implementation

• Compose a SWOT-analysis of the creme fraiche market potential

• Guiding questions to guide your thinking:

– How could you benefit from the themes brought up in the previous parts of the

assignment in marketing creme fraiche?

– Discuss the potential drivers of the heavy-users. How could you use this

information to enlarge the target market from heavy-users to masses?

– What other segments could the product be targeted tot?

– What new usage patterns could the product have? How should you communicate

these?

Assignment: Part 5 –

Integrating course readings

• The last part deals with the articles that can be found on the

course website. Answer all questions:

1. Based on Martin (2010): Contemplate the ownership structure

of Valio. Why is the maximization of customer value justified

from the owners’ point of view?

2. Based on Comstock et al. (2010): The authors describe four

important jobs for the marketer. How are these visible in

Valio’s operations?

3. Based on Ariely (2009): Reflect yourself as a consumer of

dairy products. What factors must be taken into account when

you make buying decisions?

Instructions and grading (1/3)

• The assignment is done in pairs

• Submission deadline is for the lecture of March 29th. The

deadline is non-negotiable

• Return your work both as a soft copy

(daniel.rahman@aalto.fi, prior to class) and as a hard copy

to the class

Instructions and grading (2/3)

• The answer consists of two parts:

1. The first part is max 15 PowerPoint slides, where you

present all the relevant findings and answer concisely

all the questions

2. The second part is a text document, where you explain

the slides and answers more in depth (Max 20 pages,

font 12 pt, spacing 1.5)

Instructions and grading (3/3)

• Points

– The assignment is graded on a scale of 0-5

– The assignment will be discussed during the lecture on

March 31st. Everyone must be prepared to present their

work in front of the class, if asked by the instructor